…And Other Stories. Humorous Tales from the ER.

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Shazam on Vacation

Hello from sunny, shiney California. Since ER docs work in shifts, and typically are contracted for # of hours or # of shifts in a month, it’s not unusual to end up with a block of days off, just as we end up with a block of days working. When I spotted 7 days off in a row for my busy winter schedule, I didn’t hesitate to schedule a mini-vacation.

I’ve been working pretty much non-stop since mid December, and had just about the worst holiday schedule one could get, save for the fact that I didn’t work on Christmas day.

I worked Thanksgiving eve, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas eve, New Years Eve and New Years day…all of them evening shifts, so I was unable to get together with friends or family on any of those days. Often times in order for everyone to see all the in-laws at holidays, we will have a family gathering on Thanksgiving eve or Christmas eve, rather on the day of the holiday itself. So I missed it all. I basically had no real holiday, at least nothing that felt like a holiday.

So these days off were long in coming and well deserved.

I have had a handful of patient experiences that I’d like to blog about and apologize for not doing so more often…I’m trying to stay on the brighter side of life while working in a hellish neighborhood. So I reserve my posts for those encounters that truly inspire me or reach me deep inside. Somehow treating my umpteenth STD of the week, watching a drunken idiot sober up or calling a code on (yet another) 25 year old who has OD’d on who knows what does not inspire great posting for me anymore. It did when it was new, but not anymore.

So instead, here I sit in the sun at a coffee shop in California. Warm, green trees, blooming rosemary bushes & birds of paradise surround me along with palms and happy people. Beach sand in my shoes and the slight odor of sunscreen reminds me that yes, it’s real… I’m on vacation!